Speckledhen's Ten Commandments of Good Flock Management

[Kathy Sistare]

@Kathy Sistare , There are so many things that could be wrong. Is she about 16 weeks old? Or younger? At around 17-20 months old, they go through their first big molt. They can act tired and out of sorts. Or she could have some reproductive issue, too many to name and too many have similar symptoms. There really is not enough to go on to even begin to guess what may be the issue with her. Supportive care would entail extra protein and vitamins in her food, like putting a few drops of polyvisol liquid baby vitamins *without iron* to her beak each day for awhile or in something she will eat. Most things, all you can do is lend supportive care. If she seems really ill, separate her into a warm location so she can rest undisturbed and you can monitor her poop and how much she is eating.

She appears to be a Wyandotte. Is she a hatchery gal? If so, it seems that most hatchery Wyandottes are very prone to reproductive malfunctions. I've lost all mine to those and won't have any more.

 

[Kathy Sistare]

Thanks. We are thinking she might be egg bound. She seems to have all of the symptoms.

 

[speckledhen]

@Kathy Sistare , Egg binding is a little different than the others. You can sometimes fix that. It mean an egg is literally stuck in the oviduct. She will stand like a penguin and strain a lot to push the egg out. If she's just laying down and lethargic, I doubt egg-binding.

 

[Kathy Sistare]

Well, we tried to soak her butt in warm water to clean her up, but, she just didn't make it, she flapped her wings a couple of times and was gone. I really wish we knew what happened to her.

 

[speckledhen]

Well, we tried to soak her butt in warm water to clean her up, but, she just didn't make it, she flapped her wings a couple of times and was gone. I really wish we knew what happened to her.

I'm sorry to hear that. Opening up hens has been a real education. I have threads in Emergencies where I've shown what we found inside. Usually, it was cheesy masses of cooked yolks mixed with solidified infection, which is the way a chicken handles infection, but turning it into a solid mass. There was probably nothing you could have done to save her. I've lost maybe 15-16 hens to egg yolk peritonitis and/or internal laying, and a couple to plain old reproductive cancer. Nothing to do for any of them. I can post a picture for you of what those masses look like if you want to see them.

 

[Kathy Sistare]

Nope don't need to see the pictures. She was about 6 months old and just starting to lay, but, I don't think she ever did. I think she had issues right from the start. Thats just the farm life.All the other ladies seem fine, full of energy and mischief.

 

[speckledhen]

Nope don't need to see the pictures. She was about 6 months old and just starting to lay, but, I don't think she ever did. I think she had issues right from the start. Thats just the farm life.All the other ladies seem fine, full of energy and mischief.

Ah, if she was only 6 months old, there was definitely something wrong internally from the start, maybe some "birth defect". I had a Delaware pullet who was about to lay her first egg just die suddenly, just 24 weeks old. It was her heart, but we would not have known that if we had not opened her up. One chamber of her heart was imploded, her chest full of dark blood, so seemed to be a defect that made coming into lay just too much for her.

That example is why I say it can be very educational to open them up. We don't always do it, but if there is a mystery, we often still do. I am just the type who can't let it go sometimes. And I think that some of what I've learned by doing it and posting the pictures has been helpful to folks here on BYC.

 

[micstrachan]

This is a great list of commandments! When do you know if you need to worm? I agree with not worming unnecessarily. Most of my girls are looking slightly messy in tbe rear, however. Can I worm them naturally? I've had crushed garlic in ghe water the past three days and they are looking better. But if they really needproper worming, I will do it.

 

[speckledhen]

This is a great list of commandments! When do you know if you need to worm? I agree with not worming unnecessarily. Most of my girls are looking slightly messy in tbe rear, however. Can I worm them naturally? I've had crushed garlic in ghe water the past three days and they are looking better. But if they really needproper worming, I will do it.

Thank you. The first time I ever wormed a flock, two years after they hatched, was when I saw a roundworm in one rooster's poop. So, everyone was wormed. I think I used Safeguard paste, can't recall exactly. Then, they were pretty much wormed once a year after that, unless I felt a specific need to worm one group of birds an extra time.
Natural wormers are only mild preventatives and will not kill all worms or the tougher worms like capillaria or tapeworms. Curcurbit in pumpkin seeds is one of those, but it cannot be depended on to worm reliably. Garlic doesn't worm birds. It may be an immune system booster, but given in excess can cause anemia, I've read. DE does not worm birds because it loses cutting power when wet, which it is inside a chicken. And I use it in my coops under the roosts but see all sorts of worms in my compost pile, a warm wet environment with lots of DE from the piled-up shavings.

Since worms can kill if they completely overrun the chicken's system, they really should be wormed about once a year, IMO, using the safest, all-inclusive wormer which is Valbazen. Valbazen kills all poultry worms and starves them out over a 3 day period so as to not clog the system with dead worms. Invermectin has become ineffective for many people, though the pour-on is easy to use and cheap. That used to be my choice until a bird was necropsied just a couple months after worming and had both roundworms and capillaria (not the cause of death, just an adjunct to her internal infection). I understand you're supposed to rotate wormers, but not sure it would help if the one you rotate with an ineffective wormer.

Penned birds need worming more than birds who are out on lush forage, free-ranging regularly. Since mine have had less free range time and more time inside the barn, I've had to worm twice a year. An otherwise healthy bird can handle a mild worm load without it affecting its health adversely, but best to not allow them to build up to overload.

Natural is all well and good...until it doesn't work. Since worms are a drag on the system, seems a little nuts to hold onto a natural principle that isn't working and sacrifice the health of the animal.

 

[micstrachan]

I agree. Sounds like I should worm my flock with Valbazen once, since I never have. Thank you!